Summary

While we’re waiting to see how the Standard format will evolve with Grand Prix Pittsburgh this weekend, let’s look at some sweet non-rotating decks! Today we’ll be looking at Goryo’s Vengeance in Modern, which is a combo deck that uses either a discard outlet plus Goryo’s Vengeance, or Through the Breach to sneak a big monster into play. Ideally, that card is Griselbrand, which then allows you to draw cards by losing life. But, wait! What if you don’t want to accidentally kill yourself? Good news! Nourishing Shoal removing Worldspine Wurm lets you to gain 11 life, or just about 1 1/2 Griselbrand activations. Next, bring Borborygmos Enraged into play either through Goryo’s Vengeance or Through the Breach, and then simply discard a bunch of lands and/or attack for lethal damage.

The beauty of the Nourishing Shoal + Worldspine Wurm combo being in the deck is that the Wurm itself isn’t a bad creature to sneak in with Through the Breach. It offers 15 power of trample and then 15 power of trample left over. In the early turns, it’s hard to beat that if your opponent doesn’t have a removal spell. With the release of Kaladesh, this deck got a new, powerful tool in Cathartic Reunion. When comparing Cathartic Reunion to Tormenting Voice, the Reunion stacks up well. Realistically, the plan #1 of this deck is to put a Griselbrand into its graveyard and then to dig as hard as it can for a Goryo’s Vengeance. So, the extra discard is worth the extra draw almost every single time in this deck.

The one card that I don’t really like in the mainboard is Manamorphose. It exists as a draw spell that also filters your mana, allowing you to cast Faithless Looting + Goryo’s Vengeance off of a Desperate Ritual. However, these scenarios are less likely than you being stuck with an awkward draw spell in your hand.

The sideboard has a lot going on, which can be easily seen just by looking at all those 1’s and 2’s. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Laboratory Maniac are different Through the Breach targets that offer different effects from the mainboard targets. Pact of Negation gives you some protection against the heavy-counter decks. The rest of the sideboard is removal spells, sweepers, and two copies of Collective Brutality which can be multipurpose in some matchups. Being honest, I hate sideboards like these in linear, fast combo decks. I understand that you’re digging through your deck quickly, but there are only so many types of disruption from your opponent that you’ll need to answer, and there are enough catch-alls in the format that you don’t need to have so many 1-ofs.

Fast and linear decks are always fun to play, especially in Modern, and I highly recommend you give this one a shot if you’re looking for what many people consider to be the most explosive deck in the format. Here are the changes I would make going forward: